Small scale shop front bakeries (e.g. in commercial shopping outlets or the bakery departments in supermarkets) are becoming increasingly popular. Within small scale bakeries a premium is placed on working space. It is desirable to be able to efficiently produce a wide range of products and to have a flexible production schedule.
In small scale bakeries many of the products are produced in relatively small runs. The economics of a small scale bakery is generally improved if many types of product can be produced from only a few pieces of equipment.
Dough moulders are conventionally used to receive a piece of pre-weighted dough and mould that dough to a desired shape for a specific bakery product before it is proved and baked. In a conventional dough moulder, the dough passes through a pair of sheeting rollers onto a conveyor where the dough is rolled under a curling mat or chain. The conveyor and the curling mat or chain together form a curler. The passing of the dough through the sheeting rollers is part of the necessary mechanical working of the dough. In the curler the dough is rolled into a cylindrical piece under the curling mat for either later separation into appropriate sizes for products such as bread rolls, or bread loaves.
The applicant has previously developed a bread and roll moulding machine. These machines generally consist of a set of one or more sheeting rollers, a curling chain, a conveyor and a means for pressure rolling the curled up dough form into a loaf shaped portion, and product exits onto catch tray. These machines operate by feeding a portion of dough into the sheeting rollers where the dough is flattened out into a pancake like portion. The dough then travels by the conveyor to the curling chain where the leading edge of the dough portion is curled up as the conveyor passes under the curling chain.
To make a batch of scrolls, a piece of dough (typically 2.5 kilograms) in weight is “pinned out” (often using a simple rolling pin). Typically the dough is pinned out to form a sheet approximately 2 meters long, 500 mm wide and 3 to 5 mm thick. Any fillings are placed on all or part of the sheet of dough and the sheet is rolled up about its long axis into a 2 meter long “sausage”. The sausage is then transversely cut into disk-like portions (typically 80 to 100 grams each) which are placed on their flat, circular, side for baking.
Other products such as hamburger rolls, baps and pizza bases are formed from sheeted, uncurled, dough. Although scrolls and these other products scrolls are popular, the space and cost of a dedicated “sheeting” machine can rarely be justified in the context of a small scale bakery. The process of “pinning out” (or “sheeting”) is therefore typically performed by hand. As such the thickness, quality and consistency often varies greatly from baker to baker.
It would be an improvement for the operation of small scale bakeries, if pinning out of the dough to produce products such as scrolls could be performed on the existing equipment or an attachment or adaption of existing equipment.
To achieve a desirable dough consistency, the dough must be worked. According to the described proposal the sheet of dough collected from the conveyor must be returned to the rollers a few times to achieve a suitable dough consistency.
To collect dough from the conveyor, the operator must reach past any safety guard arrangement. This is thought to be awkward, particularly in view of the potentially repetitive nature of the operation.
Other proposals for modifying existing dough moulders to suit the production of scrolls have involved sheeting rollers which can be moved relative to the conveyor for different dough moulding applications. The time and effort associated with moving the rollers and/or conveyor is undesirable.
It is an object of the invention to provide an improved dough moulder.
It is not admitted that any of the information in this specification is common general knowledge, or that the person skilled in the art could be reasonably expected to have ascertained, understood, regarded it as relevant or combined it in anyway at the priority date.